MODULAR TIMBER BOAT
Pipa Boat Party, Lagoa das Guaraíras, RN, Brazil. 2026
Long before the arrival of Portuguese colonizers in the 17th century, Lagoa das Guaraíras was a tranquil freshwater lagoon separated from the ocean by a sand spit. Here, the indigenous Potiguar people settled the village of Tibau do Sul, which in their native Tupi-Guarani language means "between two waters."
By the 19th century, landowners and farmers, tired of seeing their sugarcane crops ruined by floods during the rainy season, convinced the authorities in 1890 to open a canal to drain the overflowing waters of the Guaraíras lagoon. In 1924, following severe floods, this canal overflowed permanently. The water destroyed everything in its path, washing away the sandbar and uniting the lagoon with the sea forever.
One of the most astonishing consequences of this unexpected union of lagoon and sea is that, looking west, you can watch the sunset over a landscape of sea, marshes, and mangroves, and almost instantly turn your head east to see the full moon rise over the ocean separated by mere minutes.
The location, barely six degrees of latitude south of the Equator, possesses a unique tropical characteristic: the sun rises and sets much faster than in other places. Because its trajectory is almost perpendicular to the horizon, it takes very little time to cross it, resulting in spectacular and dramatic sunsets that attract visitors every afternoon.
Inspired by these highly specific local conditions, we designed a circularly shaped boat to create a beautiful dialogue with the perfect spheres of the sun and the moon as they sink and emerge from the sea in this stunning landscape.
Structurally, the arch consists of 11 modules, each weighing over 1,000 kg, made of timber triangles.
These triangles filter the light, creating a special, intimate space beneath the massive tropical hardwood (Massaranduba) structure—a floating "Fun Palace" designed to host events while sailing the lagoon.
The construction's design compelled us to reinterpret the meaning of industrialization within the specific context of the Global South. The coastline of Northeast Brazil lacks modern heavy industry, but it holds a wealth of ancestral woodworking craftsmanship and an economy historically tethered to the sea.
We quickly realized that, in the absence of modern automated machinery, our approach to prefabricated and modular construction needed to be reframed as a form of "artisanal industrialization."
We relied on the savoir-faire of the local people and the materials they have mastered for generations—hardwood and fiberglass—complemented by modern European bolted connections. Standardizing modular production with weights manageable by hand was essential to ensure ease of assembly and to minimize risks and errors during construction.
This approach allowed for great precision and speed during the boat's final assembly.
Production was integrated into two distinct centers:
•The Timber Yard: Located in a small town 15 km from the assembly site, this is where we fabricated the standardized modules, beams, columns, and structural elements before shipping them to the point of assembly.
•The Shipyard: Located 250 nautical miles away, this facility provided a labor force with local expertise in crafting fiberglass catamaran hulls and pleasure craft. Here, we modeled and produced the fiberglass hulls. The platform was then fixed onto them and navigated to the final assembly site in Tibau do Sul.
DESIGN TEAM: Daniel F.Flórez, Luis F. Inglada, Wendy Cruz, Leandra Fernandes.
STRUCTURAL ENGINEER: Everaldo Pletz
